Google Doodle Celebrates Ella Fitzgerald: Hear Her Great Style in This Video

I'm a big fan of lots of music, but jazz is a mainstay for me.  When I visited New Orleans years ago to watch the Sugar Bowl in 2009, I made a point to go to as many jazz clubs as I could.  From the historic sounds of New Orleans Jazz, to the rich and deep sounds of Miles Davis (who's recently dropped vinyl re-release of "Round About Midnight" I picked up last weekend on Record Store Day), to Dave Brubeck's cool transcendent rhythms, to Ella Fitgerald's boisterous and energetic sound and fantastic singing range, there is just something magical about jazz.

As if the era of bustling downtowns and newly lighted streetscapes was meant to be accompanied by jazz's breadth of technicality, volume, swinging notes, and improvised soundscapes, we constantly see the two intertwined in film, story, and culture.

Ella Fitgerald had a major role in that, by recording over 200 albums and selling over 40 million recorded works, she was a centerpiece of jazz music with a career that spanned many decades.

Her unique style, energy, and passion continue to be praised and emulated today in many genres beyond jazz.  Here is a great performance recording of Ella singing one of my favorite classic jazz tunes, "Mack the Knife".  Watch it and ask yourself "is there any wonder why she has been named The First Lady of Song"?

What not to do With Facebook Profiles When You Get Married

It seems like a trend among many of the people I know that once they get married, they "merge" their Facebook or other social networking profiles together, and use a name that combines both of theirs.  For example, something like "John Jane Doe", or something like that.

I dislike this trend (if only there was such a thing as dislike on Facebook, but that's another post for another time), and my reason for disliking the trend is that it becomes confusing who the messages are being posted by and seen by, and who is actually in our friends list, etc.  I also don't like how it combines both names together, without an "and" or something similar (it makes Jane look like John's middle name), and I don't like that if you were previously friends with one or both of the newly weds, you may have to re-friend them depending on how they go about making the newly-merged accounts.  And let's not even talk about divorces, and how that all plays out when the accounts have to be split... I can't imagine how that will work!

Instead, I think Facebook ought to promote the idea that married couples, if they want to have merged information, ought to create a Facebook page that represents their marriage, such as The John and Jane Doe Couple, or John and Jane are Hitched! page.  Assign both members of the marriage to be admins of the page, and both will be able to post as the page name and also receive posts from friends who post to the page directly.  Friends of the couple can also "like" the page to show their support or to receive updates on what they are up to as a couple, while letting those who only want individual updates from one of them to receive them through the husband's or wife's individual account.

There are many other benefits to this as well.  The page idea could be expanded to represent a family if the couple begins having children.  And in cases of divorce (which I hope never happens for my friends), the page can be dealt with or split up much easier.  If a couple doesn't want to create a page, they can always create an open or closed group relating to their marriage.  There are a few less things you can do with a group than you can with a page, but it is also an option.

Anyway, it's just something I've noticed happening more often and so if you're thinking of doing it yourself, hopefully some of the reasons I've given will help you change your mind.  What do you think?  Have a differing opinion?  Post a comment below.

UPDATED: Who Will Be Google Fiber's Next City of Choice?

Update: We were right, Google Fiber announced today on 03/24/2015 that Google Fiber will be made available in Salt Lake City, Utah. More details to follow. Below are the arguments we previously made about why Google Fiber should look at Salt Lake City next nearly two years ago.

Google Fiber just announced today that they will be moving to a third city by the end of 2013.  In the announcement, they stated that if the deal goes through, they will be acquiring the fiber network infrastructure that made up what used to be iProvo - a municipal fiber internet network that was created for residents in Provo, Utah.

Since I first learned about Google Fiber, I figured it would be a good fit for them to look for under-utilized fiber networks, many of which are municipal networks.  (Which it turns out is basically what they do)  It really came as no surprise to me that Google would pick a network like iProvo, in a city like Provo, Utah, because the fiber is there, the customers are there, but for whatever reason (I chalk it up to municipalities not knowing how to get the word out about the offerings of the service), the amount of subscriber growth never seems to keep up with the costs of operating and expanding the network.

So it made sense to me to think that Google would first be interested in these downtrodden networks, many of which are under fire because the cities that invested in them are not getting the full benefit that was promised when they were proposed and constructed.  Take a desperate former network operator like the City of Provo and match them up with the 1 Gbps offering Google Fiber, and it seems like you have a win-win.

Which may make one of the next "cities" that Google Fiber announces seem a bit different than what we've seen so far.  To this point, the cities announced have not been relatively close.  Kansas City is not near Austin, TX, and Provo, UT is not near either of those.

But the cities of Orem, Murray, West Valley, Midvale, Brigham City, Centerville, Layton, Lindon, Payson and Tremonton, Utah, are all relatively close to Provo.

Am I crazy?  Why would these cities possibly be on the list to be next for Google Fiber, when they are near Provo, and are all suburbs of larger cities such as Salt Lake City?  I think the answer is simple.  It is because of a municipal fiber network that has been struggling for over six years to keep it's subscribers, partner cities, and others in the State of Utah happy.  That network is called UTOPIA, and I have thought for some time that it is a prime candidate for Google to pick up for its expansion of Google Fiber.  For all intents and purposes, UTOPIA and iProvo are almost identical in how they were set up, using similar revenue, subscriber, and provider models.  In fact, both of them use the "wholesale" model, where the network itself provides the venue for multiple providers to offer services.

Yet, like iProvo, UTOPIA has struggled to gain users, even though for much of the six or seven years it has been available in it's partner cities, it has had higher speed offerings at lower cost than the major competitors in the land:  Comcast (Xfinity) and Qwest (CenturyLink).  For a while, I was able to use UTOPIA at home and it was great.  At that time in 2006-2007, I constantly received 40 Mbps download for about $40 per month.  That was back six years ago.  Speeds on Comcast in Salt Lake County have just barely begun to reach 40 Mbps, and the full cost of that internet service is around $60.

I would imagine that every mayor of those 11 partner cities of UTOPIA are talking about the Google Fiber acquisition of iProvo, talking to the mayor of Provo, and wondering if that is the same course of action they should take.  And I wouldn't even be surprised if talks with Google have occurred. (although they say they have not).

Speaking of which, as I searched for some information on UTOPIA's website, I came across a headline in the Salt Lake Tribune that was published today that reads: Executive of troubled UTOPIA sees hope in Google Fiber deal.

While, ultimately, UTOPIA cities may not agree to the terms necessary to complete a sale to Google of the infrastructure, at least for the time being, under the "wholesale" service model, I don't see why Google Fiber couldn't work a deal to at least be a carrier on the network, and sell the 1 Gbps service as well as their other service tiers since the UTOPIA network already has that capability.  Especially since they will already have an office in Provo where they are running iProvo.  Eventually, a buy out or a significant stake in the ownership of the UTOPIA fiber could then be negotiated.

This already fits into Google Fiber's apparent strategy, as they have been buying "dark fiber" for years, and recently leased more fiber in Kansas City.  That municipal network, called LINKCity, has also had similar issues that iProvo has had, and that makes them also somewhat similar to UTOPIA.

In some cases, leasing fiber first, rather than owning it outright, could be a great secondary strategy to bolster their footprint where networks like UTOPIA are already being rolled out, without having to put up their own money upfront.  Some estimate that it would cost Google over $11 Billion of their own cash to roll out their own network nationwide --a cost they can definitely lower if they lease some of their fiber network while awaiting momentum gains to offset costs.

It will also be interesting to see what the big competitors do in the surrounding areas of Provo and in Salt Lake County, with Google Fiber coming to their back door.  Will they scoff and shrug it off, or will they try to beat Google to offering faster speeds in those surrounding cities?  AT&T promised Austin a competing 1 Gbps service following Google Fiber's announcement in that city.  Stay tuned.

How To Get Rid of Pennies Without Paying Fees or Rolling Coins

If you're like me and most Americans, you probably have pennies and other coinage lying around that  you may feel is quite useless.  And we've all seen the penny counting machines that charge a fee to process them, such as CoinStar, or the coin rolls you must use to deposit them into the bank.

If you've decided it is time to stop storing these monies in your couch, seat cushions, under the driver's seat, in the piggy bank, or that glass mason jar, now might be a great time to use your money while completing your spring cleaning.

But who wants to take the time to roll coins, stand in a bank like, or wait for a coin counting machine to process all of the coins and charge a fee, when you can immediately use your coins for purchases for free?

And, no, I am not speaking of taking an embarrassing bag of coins up to a cash register...annoying a sales clerk in the process (like Cramer so famously did in Seinfeld).

What I am suggesting is a split payment.  Many automated checkout kiosks make this a cinch!  And the great thing is, you don't need to worry about how much coinage you have or carrying exact change.  Just bring in 30-40 cents or so (maybe 20 cents if all pennies) to the store each time you go shopping.  When checking out, choose the cash option and deposit your coins and pennies.  Your balance due is now decreased by 20, 30, or 40 cents.  Now choose credit/debit and put the remaining balance on your card.  Congratulations! You now used your 'useless' coins and paid no fees or rolled any coins.

You can do the same thing at most registers with a clerk, but they may be less willing to split the payment, so be aware of it and look for a machine checkout system.  (Most that I have run into don't care, though, and will do it.)  Additionally, do you see why it doesn't matter whether or not you have exact change?  If your balance due is $41.56, and you bring in $0.30 and deposit that first, you easily put the remaining $41.26 on your card, taking advantage of the fact that cards make dealing with any cents easy regardless of the number.  

Soon, you will be rid of your excess coins, and will have saved a bit from being debited from your bank as well, all with very little effort and time taken to do so.

And now, a proposal...

Many retailers are finally starting to send receipts to your email account of choice!  So, why don't retailers and credit/debit card processors come up with a way that change can be dealt with electronically?  For example, say $20 cash is used to make a $13.46 sale.  Why couldn't the clerk swipe the $0.46 to a bank card, or to a special purpose, industry standard 'coin card', that works like a sort of digital coin purse and can be used like a credit/debit card for later purchases?